Great intern program for college students to learn about PR agencies, collaborative atmosphere with friendly and helpful coworkers/supervisors, the management teams make sure that everyone is current on important news and issues in the public relations field, there is an emphasis on continuous learning and knowledge acquisition, GCI and WPP offer good benefits for salaried employees, the offices in different locations are always nice, the company offers a nice balance of a hardworking atmosphere and fun incentives for employees.

Cons

There is constant turnover of employees, which is true of many public relations agencies, but it seems especially pronounced at GCI Group.

Like many agencies, it's a great place to work on a number of different clients. The people there are generally close since everyone works so much and spends so much time in the office, and because there's a constant rotation of people coming and leaving, there are many opportunities to take on more responsibility. The small nature of the office allows a lot of interaction between management and employees (though that doesn't mean that there is a feedback loop implemented) which really gives a strong team feeling day-to-day.

Cons

There are not enough people, and everyone is overworked. Plus, management is very client-facing (which is good for the clients) but do not know how to manage the expectation of the clients and therefore the workload of the team to achieve reasonable results. Very senior management and team has a very good vision for the company and once executed could be very good for clients and employees but until then, it's a race to just get things done. Also, there are a few employees that are favored by management, therefore their ascent is astronomical in proportion to everyone else, which follows a much more traditional promotional scale seen at other agencies.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Senior management should interact more with staff more in a constructive way and create growth/mentorship plans for all who are not VP-level (AS, SAE, AE). Management should interact with clients on a daily basis and create a reasonable, collaborative relationship with high-achieving but reasonable expectations so that the entire team isn't scrambling every day to deliver unreasonable results to not only one client but five. The problem is not with Jeff Hunt's leadership, as he's looking at the global picture of the company, but how his leadership filters down to the various offices, all the way down to the intern. Something gets lost in the transition.